Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1887-06-24
FARM. DAIRY AND HOUSEHOLD.
Raising Onions for Market.

In a chapter on onion growing
in his book Garden and Farm
Topics" Mr. Peter Henderson says
that the idea that onions grow best
on old ground is an error. 1t is
not. he says, because the ground is
cold" or has been long cultivated,
that the onions do better there.
but because such lands, from their
long culture, are usually better
pulyerized; and experience has
shown repeatedly. that when new
soil has been equally we'll pulver-
lied aud fortified, an equally
GOOD crop is obtained, and usually
a cleaner crop, more exempt from
rust or mildew. The finest crop
of onions he ever beheld was on
sandy. swamp land, which had
been first thoroughly drained and
broken up. In fact, new soils,
particularly when broken up
from pasture land turned over
early enough in the fall, so that
the sod is rotted completely, made
excellent land for onion crops, as
thew are usually free from weeds.
Such land, however, must be well
pulverized by the use OF the
plough, harrow, and smoothing
harrow, or good results may not
follow. Much depends on the
quality of such soil. Ii rather
sandy loan it will, of course, be
much easier to pulverize than if
stiff or clayey loan, and such soil
is always preferable for most crops.
Such soils, also, are nearly always
free from under water, rarely re-
quiring artificial drainage, If the
land is level, and it always should
be selected as level as possible for
the onion crop, as when land slopes
to any great extent, much damage
Is often done by washing out, the
onion roots being near the surface,
and consequently cannot resist
floods as crops do that root deeper.
In preparing the ground for the
reception of onion seed, Of 1t has
not been ploughed the fall previ-
Gus, ploughing should be begun
rs soon as the land is dry enough
10 work, first having spread over
the well-rotted stable manure, at
the rate of thirty tons to the acre
This should be lightly turned un-
der, ploughing not more than five
or six inches deep, and covering
the manure so that it will be three
or four inches under the surface.
For this reason, the manure must
be well rotted, otherwise it cannot
be well covered by the plough.
If concentrated fertilizers are to be
used. it is best to plough the land
mp roughly, SOW the fertilizer at
the rate of one or two tons per
acre, according to its fertilizing
properties, and then harrow thor
oughly, so thatit is regularly incor-
porated with the soil.
There is no crop where the
adage of "a stitch in time" is so
applicable as in the onion crop; so
that Just as soon as the lines can
be well seen, which will be in
twenty or thirty days after sowing,
apply the hand cultivator between
the rows. The distance at which
onions should stand is from one to
two inches, and if the crop is sown
evenly and thinly few will require
TO be taken out; but whether it be
weeds or onions that are to be re-
moved, one thing should never be
lost sight of, that when this oper-
alton is done, every inch of the
surface should be broken. This
is best done after having been run
through by the hand cultivator,
by using a wooden lawn rake all
over the land, lightly raking across
the rows. 1t is one of the most
common mistakes in laborer
when wedding or hoeing, i'll sees
no weeds, to pass over such por-
lion without breaking the crust.
BY this neglect, he not only most
likely passes another crop of weeds
IN embryo under the unbroken
crust, but the portion unbroken
loses the stirring so necessary for
the well-being of the crop.